I’ve Seen the Wall (Bilingual edition): Louis Armstrong on tour in the GDR in 1965

Jazz’s journey to the GDR: artists reflect on Louis Armstrong’s musical ambassadorship, civil rights and the Cold War

On the Ambivalent Simultaneity of Things – Freedom and Oppression, Racism and Recognition

In the midst of the Cold War, legendary African American jazz musician Louis Armstrong was the first US artist to tour through the GDR. Taking this historic event in 1965 as a starting point, DAS MINSK Kunsthaus in Potsdam examines the ambivalence of this official invitation against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, the Vietnam War, and the Iron Curtain in Europe. While Armstrong avoided expressing forthright political opinions during his tour, he played (What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue, a composition he had not played in a decade, at every performance.

Paintings, photographs, archival material, and installations by Terry Adkins, Louis Armstrong, Pina Bausch, Romare Bearden, Peter Brötzmann, Darol Olu Kae, Volkhard Kühl, Norman Lewis, Glenn Ligon, Jason Moran, Gordon Parks, Dan Perjovschi, Adrian Piper, Evelyn Richter, Lorna Simpson, Willi Sitte, Wadada Leo Smith, Rosemarie Trockel, Andy Warhol, Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt, and others provide multiple perspectives on the complexity of politics, jazz music, and racism.

In 1965, LOUIS ARMSTRONG (1901–1971) performed in East Berlin, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Erfurt, and Schwerin. With 17 concerts in just nine days, the tour was tightly scheduled and some 45. 000 people experienced Louis Armstrong and his All Stars live in the GDR.

• Louis Armstrong was an American trumpeter and vocalist, one of the most influential figures in jazz and American culture in general. Four years after the Berlin Wall was built in 1965, in the midst of the Cold War and the civil rights movement, Armstrong was invited by the government of East Germany (GDR) to perform nine concerts.
• The book brings together archival material from Armstrong’s tour, as well as artwork and installations (by Pina Bausch, Romare Bearden, Norman Lewis, Glenn Ligon, Gordon Parks and Adrian Piper, among others) on the role of art in political systems and the relationship between jazz and racism. Most notably, the book will feature Louis Armstrong's collages: the first time these have ever been in print.
• Accompanies an exhibition at DAS MINSK Kunsthaus in Potsdam, Germany, on view through February 4, 2024.

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